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What You'll Find Here

I'm primarily a storyteller and a builder, which expresses itself in several ways:

Sims 4 Builds: I've been creating a ton of builds for a new save file, plus taking photos of old ones. If I can figure out how to safely share (and give credit for) builds using CC on the Gallery, then those will be shared. Until then, it's pictures-only.

Sims 4 Sims: CAS is not my favorite places to be, but I do enjoy styling my Sims. Expect me to post a lot of lookbooks and makeovers. Again, if I can figure out how to safely and simply share CC-enhanced Sims with credit, I'll be doing that.

Worldbuilding: I love worldbuilding, and I've thought a lot about the larger world of TS4 and SimNation might look like. Expect a lot of posts about the regions, politics, and religions of SimNation.

Stories: The save file I'm currently working on will be the setting for a story-focused neighborhood. But I can't start on that until I get the save file ready.

I've also created some mods with Mod Constructor. I'd need to get a lot more confident in their functionality and my ability to fix problems before I tried to share them. But you never know! I learned how to use Canva last week to make that title card. Maybe next month, I'll figure out how to hand-code and hand-update the mods I've made.

Learning Centers are freestanding buildings, often designed and built by Non-Believers and designed to further the purposes of education and usefulness in a given community. Architecturally, there is no such thing as a “typical” Learning Center. Depending on where and when the Learning Center was built, it might be a Googie fantasy like the Curious Planetarium in Oasis Springs or a bastion of neo-Gothic style like the Laurel Library in Britechester. The most important thing about a Learning Center is that it exists and serves its community.

Because Learning Centers are often custom-built for the communities they serve, there is no typical layout or set collection of rooms. Learning Centers can be designed as museums, libraries, maker spaces, and completely custom venues. There are some spaces that are more-common-than-not among Learning Centers - lecture halls, reading rooms, children’s learning areas - but about the only space you’re guaranteed to find is a bathroom.

Learning Centers function as fully independent nonprofit entities; while they are all part of the greater Congregation of Non-Believers umbrella organization, they set their own programming and control their own budgets and funding. (Each Learning Center does pay dues to the Congregation of Non-Believers, which in turn may give out grants to Learning Centers for special projects.) Almost all Learning Centers have a “Sunday Lecture Series” that’s specifically designed to replicate the sense of belonging and camaraderie that come from Jacoban and Peteran worship services while running at roughly the same time of day. Learning Centers are also the hub of Non-Believer charitable endeavors, and most offer educational programming throughout the week.

While Learning Centers have varied styles and programming, their funding streams are remarkably uniform. All of them offer memberships to community members, and most of them will have suggested or required donations to gain entry into any programming they care to put on. Members get access to all programs for free or much-reduced fees. Most Learning Centers have several tiers of membership, including student, single, couple, family, senior, and lifetime members. Anyone is free to purchase a membership, including Sims of other faiths, but in practice, most of the people willing to pony up for a membership (as opposed to paying their way into programs that interest them) are either Non-Believers or Sims seriously considering becoming one. In addition to memberships, Learning Centers may also get funding from capital campaigns and grants.

Because Learning Centers never pretended to be anything other than straightforward not-for-profits, deciding who handles physical maintenance and day-to-day running of the Center is easy. Most programs are run by a mix of paid staff and volunteers. When it comes to the physical upkeep, most Learning Centers will either hire a janitor/custodian themselves or contract with an outside cleaning company. They’ll also hire contractors for anything that requires specific professional expertise (plumbing, roofing, HVAC, etc.). No Learning Center would be able to run without volunteers, but at the same time, most Non-Believers would find the idea that they should volunteer with the Learning Center to right the inevitable wrongs they commit in life downright ludicrous if not a heinous conflict of interest.

Everyday and Formal looks.

But Ayo, unfortunately, is all too aware that a hand-dug swimming pool would not make Flora happy - and not only because she's too practical for that kind of nonsense.

No, in order for Flora to be happy with a swimming pool, hand-dug or not, she'd have to be happy with her scales. And that's something she's never been.

Athletic and PJs.

Ayo has always accepted this about her. (It's not their business to tell Flora what parts of herself she can and can't be happy with.) And they've tried to help, in their way. As a Neat, Self-Assured Geek, they assumed that if they arranged their mutual lives around their mutual loves - technology, robotics, computers, their wonderful daughter Iris - Flora would naturally grow more comfortable and satisfied with life.

And it worked, for a number of years. The whole family enjoyed the verdant backdrop of Innisgreen while Ayo and Flora climbed their respective career ladders - Start-Up Entrepreneur for Ayo; Computer Engineer for Flora. They were both Quick Learners, and Ayo wanted to be a Computer Whiz, so their careers and their lives were a natural fit.

Party and Swim.

Then Iris grew up.

At first, Ayo thought her Mystical leanings and Fairy dreamings were nothing more than typical teenage moodiness. They thought she would grow out of them once she reached adulthood.

She didn't.

Instead she moved out - to Everdew - and is now living with a Fairy woman and wants to become a Fairy herself.

Hot Weather and Cold Weather.

Ayo can find a way to live with that. They can't even fault her for dating (?) a Fairy, given their own romantic history.

But what they're not sure they can live with is Iris's distance.

And they're even less sure how to bridge the chasm that's opening up between them and their daughter.

Chapels are found in abbeys (as well as monasteries and nunneries), which are closed communities for groups of siblings. Most chapels and abbeys are hundreds of years old - the monastic way of life has been on the decline for centuries, so very few new abbeys (and thus chapels) are being formed. An abbey’s chapel may be attached to another building or free-standing. Chapels and their worship services may or may not be open to the public. In addition to being found in abbeys, chapels may also be found in certain private homes - namely country estates and castles of nobility and royalty.

Missions are spaces where lay and clergy alike come to worship. They are built in local communities, by local communities, and thus come in all shapes and sizes.

Owing to the Peteran Church’s global reach and extensive history, chapels and missions come in a wide range of architectural styles. In fact, though missions inspired an architectural style that’s common in Gran Belomisia and the Simhara Desert, that style is hardly universal among missions. St. Simbert’s Church in Henford-on-Bagley is a great example of a Peteran chapel (now mission) in the Old Simglish style.

But regardless of the specific architectural details, Peteran missions and chapels are typically not overly decorated. Peterans prefer to spend their money on helping others rather than on adorning their places of worship in luxury. That being said, Peterans do believe in making their worship spaces pleasant to look at - after all, if the Watcher didn’t like beauty, They surely wouldn’t have added so much of it to the universe. Their spaces just tend not to be ostentatious and to make as much use as possible of simple, natural materials from the local area.

In terms of layout, chapels and missions will typically have a main worship space on the ground floor. Depending on local conditions, there might be an upstairs “study loft” that allows Sims to read or research religious works while still listening to the service. There may also be ancillary spaces like a kitchen, greenhouse or community garden, “mission hall” for communal gatherings, offices for the clergy and Elder Council, daycare rooms, underground crypts, and of course, bathrooms. In game terms, these buildings will usually be classed as cemeteries but can easily be turned into wedding venues should the need arise.

Missions are funded by the tithes of the members; chapels are funded by the abbeys they are part of. (This is another reason why chapels - and abbeys - are struggling: if they don’t serve lay folk directly, they can’t beg them for tithes, so they’re forced to raise funds via university tuition, selling crafts or produce from their lands, or donation drives.) Cleaning and maintenance work may be handled by the clergy, lay volunteers, or paid professionals. For the most part, chapels and missions will try to handle day-to-day cleaning and simple maintenance through either the work of the clergy or lay volunteers, but deep cleaning and complicated maintenance will be handled by trained and fairly paid professionals. It is viewed as an abuse of power for clergy to suggest that layfolk donate labor to their mission or chapel as part of a lesson, though layfolk who have professional skills the mission or chapel could use are welcome to volunteer their time and expertise in lieu of or in addition to tithes.

Everyday and Formal looks.

She's tried to distance herself from the wild. Yes, she's Cheerful and Family-Oriented - but also quite Materialistic. She's a Quick Learner, always has been, and her most potent desire is to be a Nerd Brain.

Frolicking half-dressed in the waves has never been one of her aspirations.

Athletic and PJs.

At least her spouse, Ayo, always understood that. They accepted Flora's quirks, but they never questioned her desire to distance herself from those quirks. Without Ayo's support and love, Flora never would have had the courage to become the Computer Engineer she always wanted to be.

Party and Swim.

But Flora should have known it wouldn't be that easy. While Flora herself seems to have evaded nature's call ... her daughter Iris didn't. And now she's run off to Everdew to live with a Fairy (!!) and possibly become one herself (!!).

Flora can live with that. Truly. She just wants her daughter to be happy.

What she's not sure she can live with is the distance that's sprung up between them.

Hot Weather and Cold Weather.

What's worse is that Flora is pretty sure that distance is all her fault. Because while Flora would move heaven and earth for her little girl - the one thing she could never bring herself to do was tell the truth.

And if she comes out with it now ...

Mermaid looks.

Cathedrals usually serve as gathering places for weekly services, weddings, and funerals. The sanctuary where services are held will be the biggest, grandest space, but there might be ancillary spaces like a kitchen or function room. Many cathedrals will have an attached cemetery as well as crypt space, since burial on holy ground is important to Jacobans. In game terms, they’re often classed as cemeteries but can be switched to wedding venues if need be.

While in a cathedral, Jacobans are expected to be on their very best behavior. In years past, Jacobans were expected to attend services in their best clothes, but as time and fashion standards changed, a “Sunday best” style evolved: high-quality, well-fitted, expensive clothes that are nonetheless sober and modest enough for worship. Jacobans will happily count celebrities among their parishioners, but they’d prefer Judith Ward not show up to services in the same dress she’d wear to the Starlight Accolades.

Jacoban clergy are responsible for building and maintaining cathedrals, though for the most part, they’re not doing the work themselves. They will typically hire professionals to handle high-intensity building maintenance (that’s what the tithe money pays for). Cathedral attendants will handle day-to-day duties like cleaning and decorating, though many Jacoban parishes hire professional cleaners for deep cleaning. Shepherds are also permitted to assign work around the cathedral as a penance, though due to past scandals, there are strict rules around this:

The penance cannot prevent the sinner from providing for their family.

The scope of work must be reasonable for one Sim to perform.

Materials must be provided by the church, not the sinner.

The penance must be something the sinner is trained to do and can do without danger to life or limb (so no assigning an accountant Sim who barely knows one end of a hammer from the other to fix a roof leak).

Parishioners who have professional skills that are of value to the parish can perform service in lieu of tithes, though most parishes discourage this: they’d rather their parishioners tithe first and then volunteer. However, plenty of parishes will allow volunteering instead of tithing if the volunteer is in financial distress.

Most orders have their own unique hierarchies and specific titles for clergy. But for convenience, most Treaders use the words priest and priestess as generic terms for clergy members. Priests- and priestesses-in-training are commonly referred to as acolytes. Priests and priestesses who have gained some measure of rank and authority in their orders are often called high priests and high priestesses, but once you start talking about priests with authority, you’re much less likely to be using generic terms and much more likely to be using the order’s specific terminology.

While the details of course vary by order, most priests have the same general job description: tend to their temples, appease and make offerings to their specific Watcher-being, perform rituals for and with worshippers, offer advice and succor to worshippers. Only the specific rituals and appeasements vary, as do some of the actions needed to care for the temples.

Every order has its own criteria for membership, but there is one way that all orders are alike: every priesthood requires all of its members to be “forked ones,” i.e., occult Sims. In addition to the occult life states, Treaders recognize Sims who have Burning Souls and those who are skilled in Mediumism as forked ones. What kind of forked one a person must be in order to join the order varies by (you guessed it) order. Some orders are open only to specific life states, like Vampires or Plantsims or Spellcasters. Some are open to all forked ones. 

Most Treaders do not see this as an unnecessarily restrictive requirement. They are, after all, the Treaders of the Forking Paths, so it’s only logical that their priests should be treading a forking path of their own. Moreover, should a normie Sim wish to join a particular order, most priests would be delighted to help them become the required kind of occult. For what could be holier than to desire to walk down a forking path in order to serve the Watcher-beings?

One last thing that should be mentioned is that orders also vary widely in how much commitment they require from their priests. In some orders, being a priest is akin to a part-time job or a regular volunteer gig, only requiring a few hours per week of service. Those jobs may or may not be paid. Other orders treat being a priest like a regular full-time job: priests are “on the clock” and performing their duties for a given amount of time per week, but otherwise, their time is their own. And for some other orders, being a priest is a lifelong commitment. Priests live at the temple and dedicate their whole lives to the Watcher-being - though of course, they do get free time like everyone else.

Rules surrounding clerical celibacy (which, for some reasons, Watcherian faiths are so focused on) or lack thereof follow a similar logic. In general, the less time and commitment an order requires from its priests, the less they have to say about their priests’ sex lives, and some orders keep mum on this topic regardless of how much time they ask for from their priests. However, there are some orders that require celibacy. There are others, often dedicated to fertility-focused Watcher-beings, who require regular partnered sex. And there are others who may have rules in between - requiring marriage or forbidding it, or encouraging sex at certain times of the year and not others. It all depends on the order, its principles, and the Watcher-being it serves.